


She is not, really, like her.

by AlannaGuerrero



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 09:23:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6605422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlannaGuerrero/pseuds/AlannaGuerrero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary: Because the Ginny/Harry relationship has distinct incestual undertones.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She is not, really, like her.

 

*¨*¨*¨*

When Harry first sees her, he doesn't really feel anything, good or bad, about her. She is a little girl, then Ron's sister. 

 

Neither does Severus.

 

She's just another face, a problem amongst the sea of problems his life is already full of.

 

Only later do they really _see_ her, but even then, not really.

 

*¨*¨*¨*

When Harry comes across the Mirror of Erised, he recognizes her first.

"Mom," he says. And loves her already.

He is drawn to his father, too. "You look just like your father" he remembers hearing already many times, and now understands why they say so. The shape of their faces, their hair, the glasses, even the colour of their skin is almost the same.

He likes the feeling it gives him, the idea that he belongs, is a part of someone. He is suddenly aware he was loved, as he never was before, they stand there before him looking at him with eyes full of love while he searches for more similarities between all of them.

His mother doesn't look like him all that muchk. 

Some might have mentioned her bright eyes were like his, but he has seen plenty of eyes in his lifetime, bright and not, and they didn't make that much of difference. 

But still, he loves them both.

And the more times he comes to see the mirror, the more his famiy grows. He can see a littly bit of all of them in himself. Eyes, hair, hands, mouth, nose...

And never has he felt so at home.

 

 

*¨*¨*¨*

It's not different for Severus. Her hair looks like Lily's, he thinks one day, absetmindedly, long and shiny.

 

The thought is dismissed easily. Other students have had hair like hers, her accent, her hands, her mouth or even her bright green eyes (boys even) and he has learned to let it go. They are his students, after all, and it doesn't matter.

 

Lily is death, he tells himself ruthlessly, and she is not coming back.

 

*¨*¨*¨*

The notion he had about belonging is what makes him so attached to Sirius and Remus as well. They are also a little bit of James, even if they expect him to be James sometimes.

 

It's only later that he's also interested in Lily. When his father proves to be a disappointemnt, no better that _others_ (like Malfoy, his traitorous mind supplies). "Your eyes look like hers", he remembers.

 

It's around that time that he notices _her_.

 

All that vitality is hard to miss, but he has, for a long time.

 

Harry finds himself in love with Ginny. She's beautiful, with that flowing red hair and bright eyes.

 

But she's also all the things a Griffyndor should be, strong, protective, vibrant.

 

*¨*¨*¨*

Severus notices the similarites Harry strives to ignore. The girls is smart, popular, strong. She, like the _other one_ before her, even stands up for the less fortunate, in wills or luck, like he was.

He knows that this increasing bravado evidenced in Longbottom is partly because of her. Like the other her, she seems to be able to bring out the best in him, in all of them.

 

He knows she's leading their rebellion, with him and the Lovegood girl and does as much as he can to help them.

 

Which isn't much of course, he has to keep his cover.

 

But he whatches her now, more often that he should. He tells himself it's to help Lily's child, but also, a little because he likes seeing this girls is alive. She moves, she grows, she breathes.

 

He sees her once playing with Granger's infernal cat and remembers _her,_ doing the same thing with her own pet.

 

It pains him that no matter what he does now, and will do later, nothing gives her the chance to do it one more time.

 

At the same time, of course, he knows know that her flaming red hair is not the same shade as Lily's, knows their bright eyes are not the same colour, but he also sees how alike they are in other ways. And he basks in the knowledge that he is helping her stay alive, even if it is for another Potter, like the one before her.

Somedays it's the only thing that lets him get through the day.

 

*¨*¨*¨*

 

When all is said and done, Harry still thinks that if he stood, today, in front of the mirror of Erised, it would show the same image.

 

He would be there, sorrounded by his family. They would all be smiling, comforted and secure in their love for each other.

 

Ginny fits in that picture perfectly.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I've never been able to let go of the fact that J.K. used a doppelganger for Lily as Harry's "soul mate", as she has said.  
> So this is that.


End file.
